Training with a Portuguese Accent

Aside from listening to more Seu Jorge albums or tuning in to the major Fla-Flu futebol match, there are some more practical ways to emulate the Brazilian marathoners. Try adding some of these workouts or mental approaches to your own training:

Da Costa’s Negative Split / Race Pace Work

Known for an innate ability to push himself to the brink in training, Ronaldo da Costa posted workouts that are the stuff of legend within the Brazilian running community. Da Costa’s coach had formerly worked as a sprint coach, and his marathon approach borrowed heavily from a sprint mentality. Unlike most elite marathoners, da Costa performed explosive form drills and other workouts to build pure speed. That doesn’t mean that da Costa didn’t put in his share of marathon-specific work as well.

The two workouts considered paramount to da Costa’s development both focused on strength: The first workout had da Costa doing a long run ranging from 14 to 20 miles at marathon pace. Obviously, this run was an extremely taxing workout, and da Costa would make it a focus of his heaviest training. He would also take rest days as needed to recover from this workout, as the race simulation took its toll.

In the second workout, da Costa would run anywhere from three to five times over a 5K course. The first 5K would be run at marathon pace with each successive 5K dropping in time by approximately 10 seconds.

While few in the world could match da Costa’s times from those workouts performed while at his peak, any aspiring runner can gain from his approach. To mesh da Costa’s approach into your own training, try the following:

1. After two runs each week, set aside time to complete form drills focusing on power. Skip for height, bound, and run backwards over a flat, even surface. By completing these drills after a run, when fatigued, you’ll be conditioning your body to maintain good form and explosive power when tired. This is a major key to running strong negative splits, as da Costa was known for.

2. Whether you’re training for a local road mile or big fall marathon, include race pace training into your running routine. While most training plans for races of 10K on down include a good amount of race pace training, marathon plans often limit the percentage of time spent at race pace. Change this focus within your own training, running upwards of 15 or 17 miles at marathon pace, and you can train your body to feel comfortable at this pace. As da Costa did, be sure to include recovery days as a major part of this workout.

3. Da Costa’s 5K repeats offer a challenging workout for any marathoner, but they also offer a training stimulus that makes a negative split race possible. Choose a 5K course that closely resembles the terrain of your upcoming marathon. After warming up with some light running, aim to hold marathon pace for your first 5K loop. Run lightly for one mile between repeats, and aim for 3 to 4 total runs over the 5K course. Finish this workout off with your fastest 5K of the day, and you’ll be prepping yourself to close your next marathon with a burst.

Gomes’ Mental Strength

I train no differently than anyone else,” Marilson Gomes dos Santos says. Unlike da Costa, Gomes’ training schedule contains no single do-or-die workout. Instead, Gomes focuses on consistency over time to bring improvement. In Gomes’ case, that means hitting the track three times a week for speed work and getting in the gym twice a week to lift weights in addition to racking up the miles. At times, when building up for a major race like the 2007 London Marathon, where he finished in eighth just behind Ryan Hall, Gomes travels to Columbia to train at altitude. “There is nothing special about training,” he says. “You have to believe in yourself.”

This focus on the mental side of the sport is often neglected, but Gomes credits it with much of his success. “It doesn’t matter who I race, I race to win,” he says. Every runner can take a lesson from this approach. In the end, that mental edge means more to the Brazilian runners than any specific workout or mileage number. “You need persistence,” says Gomes. “You have to do whatever it takes.” When you take to the line in your next race, bring that ferocity with you.

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